Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
I am noticing that the most successful new ideologies of the past decade are very object-level (prescriptions on specific issues) and quite little meta-level (social processes for making decisions on object-level issues). Examples: * Abstract libertarianism feels much weaker than 10 years ago. But issue-specific versions of it are quite successful: YIMBY (housing), the crypto space * e/acc (it's about all technology in theory, but ends up being about AI in practice) * The largest cluster in effective altruism morphed from being meta-level ("think harder to making sure your donations are going where they can do the most good!") to object level (AI safety, with a little bit of animal welfare and global public health) * Longevity movement Maybe network states and Glen and Audrey's Plurality movement are two exceptions - but in general the above feels like a strong pattern. Any ideas why this meta level -> object level shift seems to be taking place?
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Mac Budkowski ᵏ
@macbudkowski
I think people - in general - like to have specific issues and goals. It's easier to explain YIMBY than libertarianism. It's easier to track the speed of AI development than the whole tech. It's easier to convince people that longevity research is important than convince them we should focus more on biotech.
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Mac Budkowski ᵏ
@macbudkowski
Also, I guess that once a meta-level ideology matures, people focus on object-specific outcomes. I imagine in the Cypherpunks mailing list many people discussed the abstract idea of Internet Money. But today you don't need to discuss it, you can just build something with crypto.
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